Ho ho ho

Commentary: Top performers take a shine to these specialty retailers

CHAPEL HILL, NC (MarketWatch) — It’s widely known that the Christmas shopping season can make or break a retailer.

It therefore looks as though this year’s shopping season is going to be a very good one indeed. That’s because the specialty retailers category has received the greatest number of upgrades recently from the top-performing investment advisers.

As I typically do in this monthly feature, I construct this group of top performers to include just those few select advisers on the Hulbert Financial Digest’s monitored list who have jumped over two hurdles: He has outperformed a buy-and-hold over the trailing decade, and he must also be among the 25% with the best returns over the past 12 months.

Which companies in the Speciality Retailer category are particularly favored? The following list contains those that are recommended by at least one of these top performers:

A diverse group of companies, to be sure. Yet their very diversity helps make my general point: On the assumption that the top performers will continue their winning ways, it is hard to imagine a scenario in which the upcoming holiday season is not a good one.

Happy holidays!

Editors’ note: Stock picks and analyses such as the one above now appear each week in Mark Hulbert’s latest investment information service — Hulbert on Markets: What’s Working Now. Click here for a free 4-week trial. Mark Hulbert does not own any of the stocks mentioned in this column.

Intraday Data provided by SIX Financial Information and subject to terms of use.
Historical and current end-of-day data provided by SIX Financial Information. Intraday data
delayed per exchange requirements. S&P/Dow Jones Indices (SM) from Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
All quotes are in local exchange time. Real time last sale data provided by NASDAQ. More
information on NASDAQ traded symbols and their current financial status. Intraday
data delayed 15 minutes for Nasdaq, and 20 minutes for other exchanges. S&P/Dow Jones Indices (SM)
from Dow Jones & Company, Inc. SEHK intraday data is provided by SIX Financial Information and is
at least 60-minutes delayed. All quotes are in local exchange time.